


Who Is In Control?

by Whirlwind



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Episode Related, F/M, Humor, Mind Control, There's Always A Loophole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 04:17:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18683983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whirlwind/pseuds/Whirlwind
Summary: [Alternate ending to 1x16] When Hope doesn't arrive in time to stop the final artifact from falling into the pit via the Headless Horseman, Landon and Hope are forced to contend with Malivore in ways neither of them ever expected.





	Who Is In Control?

**Author's Note:**

> If I’m being honest, I'm not as happy with this as I'd like to be... But I’ve had this idea bouncing around in my head since the finale and really wanted to turn it into a fic, so here it is.

"Please, please! Don't!" Landon cried out, but it was too late. The artifact tumbled, in what felt like slow motion, into the dark pit below and gradually sank into the muck.

With his freedom from Malivore now granted, the Headless Horseman released his grip on the boy and proceeded to make his leave of Triad Industries.

"No, no, no." Landon repeatedly muttered as he rushed down the steps. He hadn't been able to stop it. Malivore was coming.

His mind desperately tried to come up with something, anything to stop the impending doom that was now about to be unleashed upon the world. In spite of his best efforts, he just kept coming up blank. How does one even stop an immortal mud monster anyway?

Stuck in his thoughts, Landon didn't hear his brother’s footsteps approaching from behind. It wasn't until he heard the sound of slow clapping that he spun around.

"I commend your effort, little brother, but you failed."

A satisfied smirk graced the man’s lips, and Landon shook his head in frustration. They could have been on the same team in all this, allies trying to stop their father. He couldn’t help the disappointment he felt.

"I don't get it, why are you doing this?"

The simple question had clearly touched a nerve of sorts, and Clarke flinched momentarily before he regained his composure and responded.

"Bringing our father his golden child should be enough to get me back in his good graces." Maybe it was naive of him, but perhaps his father would realize that he wasn't the failure he'd always thought him to be.

Landon felt a sense of sympathy for his half brother. He understood the feeling quite well. Years of trying to impress foster parents in hopes that maybe one of them would finally keep him around, only to be once again discarded like always.

"It won't matter." He admitted gently, letting out a small sigh. "It never does."

Clarke shot him a death glare, before lurching forward and grabbing Landon by the collar of his shirt. Eyes wide, Landon's feet dangled above the ground as he desperately tried to escape from his brother's grip.

"We'll just have to see about that. Off you go then. Daddy's been _dying_ to meet you."

Landon knew what was coming before he even made a move. "Wait!" He cried out just as Clarke shoved his brother backwards into the pit. His body hit the glowing, gurgling liquid and panic overtook him as his brother's words from earlier rang out in his ears.

_"Turns out your purpose is to be a meat suit for the most powerful monster ever to walk the earth."_

* * *

 

“How clumsy of me.” Clarke quietly chuckled, brushing his hands together. The pit began to churn and bubble even more now. It was only a matter of time.

The pit caught fire, an intense blaze burned fiercely before finally petering out. In it's wake, it left nothing but a cavernous hole in the ground and a sole body, belonging to that of Landon Kirby. Or so it seemed.

Clarke approached the ledge and bent down to offer his hand to the young man standing below.

"Hello, father." Ryan greeted.

Malivore looked up at his other son with an unreadable expression that made Ryan feel uneasy, but he took his hand and was pulled back up onto flat ground.

Malivore brought his hands up to feel his new face, it was strange to feel skin instead of mud. He flexed Landon's fingers, testing out his new body. It wasn't much, but it would serve its purpose.

"You've done well my son." He commended and Ryan felt a sense of relief at having pleased his father, but it was short lived.

"But now your part is over."

Malivore's hand was quickly at the man's throat. Shock and terror filled Ryan's eyes as he realized what was happening, and how he was powerless to stop it.

"Please-" He squeaked out, “ You don't have to do this. I can still be of use to you, I swear.” But his father wasn't swayed in the least by his son's pleas for mercy. The man's flesh slowly began to turn brown in color and softened under his grip. Skin turned to mud between his fingers and haphazardly sloshed down into a pile on the concrete floor.

Malivore shook off the sludge from his hand and turned around to look at the now gaping crater where he had once resided. He smirked in the sheer pleasure of it all.

After centuries of imprisonment, he was finally free.

* * *

 

Hope sprinted down the Triad corridor, doing her best to avoid the fallen guards and employees in the wake of whatever creature had been through here. It's gruesome handiwork only made her quicken her pace further.

Though she knew Landon couldn't die, she also knew there were fates much crueler than death. Like being tossed into Malivore. And since for some reason, she was the only one able to remember people who fell in, it didn't exactly ease her fears that she may already be too late.

She quickly threw open the control room door and stepped out onto platform. Peering over the landing, her eyes quickly spotted a figure below, standing in front of an extremely large hole in the ground.

"Landon!" Hope called out, letting out a huge sigh of relief that he was okay, as she headed down the steps towards him.

The figure slowly turned around to face her and Hope immediately knew something was wrong, and she took a small step back. Landon's eyes were devoid of any warmth or kindness that had always been so easily found there. Instead, she was met with a soulless gaze that made her insides go cold. This wasn't Landon Kirby. She took a defensive stance.

“Who are you, and what have you done to Landon?”

The man with Landon's face smirked, rather impressed at the young woman's ability to sense something was amiss with only a single look.

"Smart girl. No wonder my son is so fond of you.”

"Son?" Hope was taken aback. "Your Landon's father? One of the monsters from inside Malivore?"

"I **am** Malivore." He corrected.

Hope’s eyes widened in shock at the revelation. Malivore, the monster eating black pit that was the source of all this craziness over the past few months was Landon’s father? How was that even possible?

"As for the boy, he is serving his true purpose.”

A cold unease crept over Hope at his words, as her fear for Landon's life increased.

"What the hell does that mean?”

Malivore took a step closer, and gestured to himself. "I created him to be the perfect vessel for me to create the new bloodline, to finally launch the species."

The look of disgust on Hope's face was evident. "You can't be serious. Landon's a person, not some pedigree dog used for breeding purposes. Doesn't he get a say in all this?"

"Like father, like son. I was created to serve the supernatural Triad, and the boy was created to serve me."

Hope couldn't help think of her own father at that moment. He wasn't exactly what you would call a good man, he had been the villain of many stories, but if there was one thing she knew, it was that he always loved her. Surely Landon's father couldn't be this heartless, this callous when it came to his own child. Even monsters were capable of love.

"He's your son, not some tool. Don't you- don't you care at all about what he wants? That he's happy?"

The man seemed completely unfazed by Hope's question, utterly stone faced. She couldn't help but think how strange it was to see Landon's face this way. She wanted nothing more now than to see that teasing glint in his eyes and roguish smile on his lips.

"What the boy wants is not my concern."

Anger slowly began to coil through her, she could feel her magic wanting to surface. The entire time they had been talking about Landon, Malivore had not once used his name, and it was honestly getting on Hope's nerves. "He has a name!" Hope replied darkly, but Malivore only shrugged. "Again, it matters not to me."

The creature had become exceedingly impatient. He had grown weary of this conversation. It did nothing but hinder his ultimate goal, and he wasn't about to have that.

"The new bloodline will be created, and I will do whatever is necessary to whomever stands in my way.”

The imposter stalked his way towards her and Hope started to prepare magic to counter him when suddenly, Malivore's face contorted in anguish and he fell to one knee. His right hand clutched his head, and his fingernails dug into the palm of his hand.

Hope watched the scene cautiously, for fear this was some sort of trick.

"No!" A pained voice spoke, and Hope's eyes went wide as she recognized Landon's true voice coming through.

"I won't-, I won't let you hurt her." Landon spoke through gritted teeth, desperately trying to keep Malivore at bay.

"Landon!" Hope cried out and instinctively rushed towards him, but Landon held up his other hand to stop her.

"Don't come any closer. I’m not sure how much longer I can hold him back.”

She reluctantly did as he asked, in spite the fact that every bone in her body screamed to do otherwise.

"Hope, you-you gotta get out of here. Find a way to stop him." He paused a moment. "To... to stop me." He corrected. "Please, whatever takes."

"I'm not leaving you!" Hope shouted, her voice suddenly raw with emotion.

He looked up at her weakly, a deep sadness in his features. "You have to. He's-he's a monster who won't stop until he gets what he wants." Landon remembered how he had callously dissolved Ryan without hesitation earlier. He'd have no qualms about hurting Hope. "I know you can stop him, you always find a way to beat the monster in the end. Only this time, the monster is me.” He sighed heavily. “You have to let me go, Hope."

Tears stung at Hope's eyes and she emphatically shook her head, refusing to believe his words. She had almost lost him just a couple of days ago, there was no way she was going to lose him now. Giving up on him wasn't an option. "No, Landon... I can't."

It broke his heart that he was causing her so much pain. The girl didn't deserve any more pain in her life. She deserved to smile, to be happy. Not this. Maybe it was selfish, but he wanted to see that smile one last time.

"I mean, it's just another Thursday for professional monster hunter Hope Mikaselson, right?"

She couldn't help the smile that twitched at her lips as she rolled her eyes at him. Leave it to Landon Kirby to be making a joke at a time like this. She was torn between wanting to smack him and hug him. But she knew why he was doing it, which somehow made it all the more painful.

"I love you, Landon Kirby.”

Her declaration caught him off guard, and he was briefly stunned to hear those words from her, to him no less. But the surprise quickly faded and for a single moment, the pain he was experiencing didn't matter, he smiled at her with such love and joy in his eyes.

"Hope Mikaelson, I lov-

Landon's words were cruelly cut off by the reemergence of Malivore seizing control. The creature shook his head to clear his mind of his son's lingering thoughts and returned back to a standing position.

"The boy is stronger than I gave him credit for." He admitted. "But it won't be long before he loses the fight and succumbs to my control completely. Trapped in an endless darkness where he can do nothing but watch. A prisoner of his own body."

Hope narrowed her eyes at him. Her anger flared and her hand balled into a fist. "You bastard."

She wouldn't let him get away with this. She knew Landon had wanted her to get out of here, but she just couldn't. "Sorry, Landon." Hope murmured to herself. "But I’m going to save you. I promise.”

"This has been fun, but play time is over." Malivore raised his right hand and a fireball manifested in his palm. He launched it at her, and a surprised Hope was barely able to dive out of the way to avoid being hit.

They never had figured out what powers Landon was capable of, besides the whole, coming back to life thing. Seemed Hope was about to get a crash course on them right now.

As she stood back up, her eyes caught the Triad logo on the wall and something suddenly clicked. Hope remembered something Malivore had said earlier, about how he was created by the power of 3 supernatural species combined.

It was only a theory really, but based off of everything she knew so far, she seemed immune to the effects of Malivore. She remembered Seylah after she went into the pit, Triad's Malivore bullet had no effect on her, and, thanks to an update Dr. Saltzman earlier, she'd learned her blood had cured Josie of her injury from the weapon. It was a bit of long shot, but maybe her tribrid blood could purge Landon of Mailvore too. She at least had to try.

She hesitated a moment, hating the idea of attacking Landon, but she knew it was the only chance of saving him.

"Glace solidatur!"

Ice crystals began to form on his body, binding together to create an encasement of ice around his entire form. That would buy her enough time to find what she was looking for. She searched the room, and her eyes landed on what she needed, a sharp piece of metal scrap mental which she snatched up and slipped it into her jacket.

As Hope turned back around, she noticed steam was now emitting from the ice around Malivore, and a water puddle was forming under his feet. He was melting the ice. Hope knew that even after he eventually melt the ice, his body would still be sluggish from the cold temporary, and she planned to use that to her advantage.

As the last chuck of ice crashed to the floor, Hope made a break for it. She dashed towards him and swiped his leg out from under him and effectively pinned him to the ground. The force briefly knocked the wind out of him, causing him to gasp for air. In spite Malivore's control, physically, Landon wasn't much of a fighter, which turned out to be helpful.

Hope quickly reached into her coat pocket for the scrap metal and sliced the palm of her hand with it, then shoved it against his open mouth. He struggled under her grasp and she pressed harder as the drops hit his tongue.

Malivore roared in pain and Hope jumped off him as he staggered to his feet. Her blood slowly burned like acid throughout his body, growing more painful with every passing second. Unable to withstand it any longer, it brought him to his knees.

"Impossible!" He grunted. "Nothing should be able to hurt me."

Hope placed one hand on her hip and smirked triumphantly. "Didn't anyone ever tell you, there's _always_ a loophole."

And today, that loophole was her.

She'd always felt like she was cosmic mistake, someone who should have never been born. Turns out, maybe she was wrong.

Dark smoke began emitting from Malivore's skin and he could feel himself being purged from his vessel, his control slipping away. Landon was starting to regain power over his own body. In a desperate attempt to prevent it, Malivore reached for the discarded scrap metal to stab himself with, in hopes the inevitable "rebirth" would cleanse the poison of Hope's blood from his system.

"No!" Hope screamed as she lurched forward to stop him. The metal in his hand stopped, just centimeters from skin, but it hadn't been Hope's doing.

"Get the hell out of me, already!" Landon shouted, finally back in control. His return was the last push his body needed to expel his father once and for all. A surge of power rippled out from his body, and the boy flopped backwards onto the ground in exhaustion.

"Landon!" Hope rushed over to his side to check on him. "Is it you? Are you okay?"

“It’s me." Landon groaned as she helped him sit up. “A little sore, but I think I'll be fine."

Hope smiled in relief and threw her arms around him. The boy winced slightly in pain, but he honestly didn't care, it was worth it. He leaned into her embrace wholeheartedly, because it wasn't that long ago when he was thought he'd never be able to do so again.

"Hey," Landon spoke up, causing Hope to pull back a bit.

"Thank you, for... all of this." He said sincerely. "Coming for me, saving me. Your, well... kinda my hero."

Feeling a tad embarrassed at the level of praise, Hope shook her head in dismissal, doing her best to fight off the blush that threatened to creep into her cheeks.

Landon placed his hands on the sides of her face and gently tilted her chin to look at him. "And just in case it wasn't clear what I was going to tell you earlier... I love you too, Hope Mikaelson."

A blissful smile overtook Hope's face and Landon pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

When they pulled part, and stood back up, Hope felt to need to verify that he was really okay after all this.

"You're sure you're alright? No more Malivore running around in your mind?"

"No more Malivore. And thank God, for that. You're lucky you didn't have to hear his predictable, 'You haven't seen the last of me' villain speech. It was a bit uninspired if you ask me."

Hope chuckled and shook her head in amusement

"Come on, let's go home."

Landon smiled in return and started to follow her, but stopped for a moment to glance back over his shoulder at the pile of mud sitting in the corner and frowned slightly. When Hope didn't hear his continued footsteps behind her, she stopped and stared at him curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Before you arrived, Malivore did that to Clarke." Landon sighed and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I know Clarke was kinda a dick, but I sorta feel bad for him. Our father used him, then discarded him like he was nothing. It sucks."

Hope's expression abruptly shifted to one of confusion and surprise. "Wait, time out. Clarke was your brother?"

"Half brother anyways. But yeah, that reminds me, I have a lot to catch you up on."

Hope nodded in agreement. "Apparently."

Landon walked over to the pile and bent down beside it. He murmured an apology of sorts and as he stood to get up, his fingers grazed the pile and suddenly, the mud began to faintly glow. A look of confusion crossed his face.

Hope pulled Landon back as a blinding white light proceeded to fill the room. When it finally faded and the duo's eyes readjusted, the mud heap had been replaced with a rather familiar looking figure in the form of Ryan Clarke.

"Oh God, he's naked!" Hope blurted out, as she quickly spun around in the opposite direction and scrunched her eyes shut. Oh how she desperately wished she could burn that image from her mind.

A clearly uncomfortable Landon kept his eyes glued on the ceiling as he removed his jacket and tossed it somewhere in the direction of his very nude older brother.

"Tie that around your waist or something." He instructed, eyes still focused on anywhere else but in front of him.

Ryan tsked, completely unfazed by the whole thing and gave a nonchalant half shrug. "My, aren't you two couple of prudes."

"Just put it on!" Landon yelled impatiently, quickly becoming annoyed.

Clarke sighed dramatically, but did as requested. "Fine. Better?”

Hope slowly turned back around and made a face at what she saw. "Not really.” She mumbled, and Landon couldn't have agreed with her more.

Refocusing on the other matter at hand here, Landon stared down at his own hands with a mixture of intrigue and utter confusion.

"How- how did I even do that?"

"I suspect our father must have unlocked your dormant capabilities when he took over." His brother informed him.

Hope and Landon exchanged a look with each other as they realized the interesting turn of events. Seemed like they had another round of power testing in their future.

"I hate to admit it but, guess I owe you one, little brother." Ryan huffed, begrudgingly.

There was a moment of quiet understanding between the two siblings in that moment. Neither of them truly trusted one another, but the thing that had essentially pitted them against each other was gone now. In a number of ways, they weren't so different. And all though they certainly wouldn't be having any brotherly bonding anytime soon, maybe there was hope there. A chance at some semblance of family. Someday.

Landon eventually nodded, before asking curiously. "What are you gonna do now?"

Clarke paused to think about it a moment. If was was being honest, he really didn't know. But he was finally free of his father, he didn't have to live in fear of his retribution any longer. Though he didn't know what his future held, there was one thing he needed to finish.

"I think it's time Triad Industries closed, permanently. You two might want to get out of here" He warned, before starting to head towards the control room. "Oh, and here."

Ryan removed Landon's jacket from his waist and tossed it towards his younger brother. On instinct, Landon caught the jacket then immediately cringed, disgust written on his face at the realization of where it had just been.

"I'm immediately regretting accidentally reviving that guy." He muttered, quickly dropping the article of clothing onto the floor. If only he had a better grasp of his Phoenix powers, he'd set the thing on fire.

Hope sympathetically patted Landon on the back and the two made their leave back home to the Salvatore School.

 


End file.
